help needed;building a pc

[earplugfan]

hey guys i'm hoping to build a pc and these are the specs that i'm hoping to go for

core 2 duo e8400 3.0 ghz
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R mobo
corsair xms3 4gb(2x2gb) 1333mhz ddr3 ram
asus ati radeon hd4850 512 mb gpu
lite-on lightscribe dvd burner(sata)
1TB 7200rpm HD(seagate or western digital)

i'm having trouble choosing a psu'a cpu cooler, and a case.can some body recommend a good looking case(with great cooling+ a side window) and a psu & a cpu cooler?
i'm hoping to spend around $160 for all three.

buy "great cooling" i mean that i wouldnt need to spend on expensive fans & LCS's.

i wont b overclocking or crossfiring.
future upgrades would only include RAM & HDD.
Thanks in advance.

[tonpal]

I would suggest DDR2 with a socket 775 board. I have not seen any reviews or benchmarks that indicate that going DDR3 gives much of performance jump over DDR2 for socket 775.

Plus DDR2 is at rock bottom prices.

I would go with a psu of around 500W from a reputable brand. The sort of names that spring immediately to mind are Corsair, Enermax and Seasonic.

Recommending cases is a bit trickier as it is a very personal choice. The Antec P182 is a good performing case. I also quite like the Hiper Osiris. Unfortunately both of these cases will use the entire budget you have set aside for case, psu and cpu cooler. Although if you save a bit on memory it may give you a bit more money to spend on a case.

[WhiteGiant]

If you're not overclocking, the stock HSF is great for the E8400.

For the PSU, any decent brand 500w+ model should do, this might be a little overkill but I like Enermax : Clicky.

I see you've said your budget is $160, is it really dollars? If so you should be able to pickup something like the Antec 300, not very flashy, but $160 ain't a lot to play with.

[strike-down]

Ditto tonpal about the memory, no point in you spending a huge amount on ddr3 for next to no performance improvement with socket 775.
Also the hard disk, you'd be better off picking up one of the samsung spinpoint F1 drives.
Power supply, Corsair HX520 if you are looking to keep your case tidy and dont mind putting aside some dosh for it.
Case - Antec 300
CPU Cooler - TRUE
$160 for case, power supply, and cpu cooling is a little too low really. If you can, up the budget on that.

[PeterStoba]

He might mean £160?

[strike-down]

He might mean £160?

All well and good if he does, but he said $160, so unless he says otherwise, thats whats gotta be used.

[tonpal]

I should have asked what you intended to use the computer for in my earlier post. I had assumed since you chose a dual core that it would be for gaming.

[strike-down]

I should have asked what you intended to use the computer for in my earlier post. I had assumed since you chose a dual core that it would be for gaming.

im assuming gaming as he is going for the hd4850, not much point in getting that if its just for net browsing and word processing

[sjhujh]

wouldn't DDR2 hamper future upgrades though? I'm assuming what with the Core i7 and Phenom AM3 sockets (which i believe are DDR3) DDR two will be of limited use for future upgrade...?

CPU cooler, if no overclocking is being i also vote for sticking with the stock cooler, also another vote for a Samsung drive, I have one of the older 500gb models and its the quietest and coolest of my drives...

[PeterStoba]

AFAIK, AM3 will support DDR2 and 3

[vincent.m]

if you want loads of fans and a decent PSU and Heat Sink (for stock clock)

Corsair HX 520 very very reputable (approx £70 last time i looked)
Antec 900 for the side panel you wanted and lots of air flow) (approx £70)
and for a heat sink the Arctic cooler 7 for sound purposes? and potential for overclocking (approx £15)

total £155

thats if you meant pounds, but i am hoping that its not $ and you mistyped.

looking like a nice build

[Webby]

The Phenom 2 will come in two flavours a AM2+ model (released next week) which will operate with DDR2 and then later AM3 models which will use DDR3. Because (like i7 or should that be i7 is like AMD ) the CPU contains the memory controller it is limited to a single memory type.

Anyway buying DDR3 now to save on futre upgrades is false economy. 4GB of DDR2 £40 and 4GB of DDR3 £100 when you come to upgrade in what will probably be a year or two we may have all moved onto DDR4 or at the very least DDR3 prices will be significantly lower and with better timings. And you will have saved £60 now which can go towards a better case/PSU whatever else you want

[vincent.m]

but will users' needs change to justify the upgrade to DDR3? thats what you have to think about, i mean 4gb is an insane amount of RAM.

[tonpal]

The Rosewill Conqueror may be worth considering as a budget case.

Tech Report gave it a favourable review

http://techreport.com/articles.x/15419

[earplugfan]

thanks a lot guyz.tell u the truth i ddn expect so many replies in such a short span of time.well it's
$ not £.thanks for the tip on memory i may b able to utilise that on the case.thanks a lot guys for the great inputs.

P.S:- wouldnt the stock cpu fan b loud.

[PeterStoba]

thanks a lot guyz.tell u the truth i ddn expect so many replies in such a short span of time.well it's
$ not £.thanks for the tip on memory i may b able to utilise that on the case.thanks a lot guys for the great inputs.

P.S:- wouldnt the stock cpu fan b loud.

It will be loud compared to an aftermarket solution if the old ones are anything to go by, but it's still quite quiet tbh